Choosing products to sell
With so many products available for dropshipping, it can be difficult to decide which products to sell. The group of products you sell is called your product line. There are no right and wrong products to choose, but choosing the right products for your product line can influence your chance of success.
On this page
Methods for choosing products
It can help to have a focus for how you want to search for products to sell. Review the following methods to see which ones you can use for your business.
Based on supplier reputation
If you choose products from a supplier you know has good quality products, then your customers are more likely to be happy with their purchase. You don't need to spend time ordering products from different suppliers to judge quality for yourself, which saves you time and money.
Selecting all your products from a single supplier also makes it easier to keep shipping costs low and charge more accurate shipping rates to your customers.
Based on market trends
Researching market trends can take a lot of time, but can be worth it if you sell a trendy product at the right time. This method requires you to change your product line frequently and continually research the latest trends, but it can be profitable.
Based on fulfilling a unique need
Building a product line that solves a problem that people have is a good way to position your product line. You might be able to make unique products easier to find, or offer a group of products that aren't usually found together.
For example, you might know of a unique craft that requires different materials that people typically have to buy from many sources. If you put all those materials in one place, or created a product that contains all those materials, then that solves the problem of finding all those products.
Based on a demographic
Researching a specific demographic of people allows you to have more data around what products are a good fit for your product line. For example, you can research products that university students commonly forget when moving into a new house for the first time and choose your product line around their wants and needs.
Based on what you would buy
If you would buy certain products, then there are likely others who would buy them, too. Choosing products based on what you like also makes it easier to write marketing content for the products, such as product reviews or instructional blogs.
Build your product line around a common theme
Having a theme for your products helps you build a brand around the products, choose keywords to focus your marketing efforts on, and target specific types of people.
For example, if you had a baby stroller, muffin baking cups, a winter coat, an ice cube tray, and Bluetooth headphones featured on your website's homepage, then people aren't going to know what your business is about, and they likely can't find exactly what they are looking for.
However, if you instead found an ice cube tray and muffin baking cups that are dinosaur-themed, then you could build your product line around children's kitchen accessories for parties or young, aspiring chefs.
Choose your products
After you decide on a method for choosing products and a theme for your product line, you can begin to search for specific products to add to your store. It can help to add products that have the following:
- high ratings
- positive reviews
- make sense to be bought together
- high-quality photos
- easy to write good descriptions for
- free shipping option
- cheap to order test products for.
After you begin making sales, you can adjust your product line to match customer feedback, follow or create new trends in your industry, and encourage customers to return to your store to see what is new.